Monaco 2-3 Benfica: Amdouni snatches victory as Di Maria inspires turnaround

Benfica twice came from behind to end Monaco’s four-game unbeaten run in the Champions League, scoring two late headers to grab a thrilling 3-2 win on Wednesday.

Monaco’s Eliesse Ben Seghir got his side off to a great start, breaking the deadlock in the 13th minute by ghosting into the box to rifle home Aleksandr Golovin’s cutback pass after a superb counter-attack.

Benfica took control and should have equalised in the 37th minute when Angel Di Maria was denied by Radoslaw Majecki, and Nicolas Otamendi’s header from the resulting corner flew just wide.

Breel Embolo smacked a shot off a post in the second half, and that miss proved costly when Vangelis Pavlidis made the most of Monaco defender Caio Henrique’s weak header to steal the ball and equalise.

The chaos continued as both sides had goals ruled out for offside by the VAR before Monaco centre-back Wilfried Singo was dismissed just before the hour mark for two yellow cards.

Soungoutou Magassa picked the perfect time to score his first goal for the club, charging on to Christian Mawissa’s angled pass and drilling it low into the corner to restore Monaco’s lead in the 67th minute.

However, Di Maria produced a superb cross for Arthur Cabral to level in the 84th minute, and four minutes later the Argentina forward crossed for Zeki Amdouni to head home the winner.

3 points in Monaco: #ASMSLB • #UCL pic.twitter.com/B0ZEWD3BNC

— SL Benfica (@slbenfica_en) November 27, 2024

Data Debrief: Diamond Di Maria

Di Maria’s late creative heroics moved him onto 38 assists in the Champions League, taking him clear of Manchester United and England great David Beckham (36).

Only Ryan Giggs (41), Cristiano Ronaldo (40) and Lionel Messi (39) have provided more assists in the competition than him, with all of them either retired or no longer playing in Europe.

It capped a memorable outing for Di Maria, who made his 112th appearance in UEFA’s top competition – Messi (163) and Roberto Carlos (120) are the only South American players to have featured more.

Pavlidis also scored his first for Benfica, and the Greek forward now has 13 goals in 26 matches in major European competition – an average of a goal every other game.